


Walker in a Winter Wonderland

by orphan_account



Category: In the Flesh (TV)
Genre: Gen, Pre-Series, Snow Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 07:36:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5408396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kieren wakes up to the first snow of the year, and already knows exactly how he wants to spend his day: Playing outside with his best friend, Rick Macy!</p><p>------------------</p><p>Written for December 15th of the 2015 ITF Advent Calendar, with artwork by tumblr user kuparikoira!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Walker in a Winter Wonderland

  


Kieren had woken up that morning to the first snow of the year. Well, the first _real_ snow. There had been some light flurries for the past few weeks, but the few clumps of white that formed had quickly melted by the end of the day. But this morning, Kieren awoke to a world outside that was entirely coated in sparkling white. The front yard (his father would be devastated about the garden, he was every year), the road, the rooftops of his neighbor’s houses. _Everywhere_.

The twelve year old boy nearly jumped up. He had not eaten breakfast yet, had not even left his bedroom, but he already had plans for the day. He already knew exactly what he wanted to do, and he knew that, across Roarton on the other side of town, in a household much different than his own, there was a little boy just about his age who had the exact same plans.

Like they had every year since they had become friends, Kieren and Rick were going to spend the first day of snow playing together.

“Mum!” Kieren called as he hopped down the stairs. He looked around for his mother and found her making coffee in the kitchen. He nearly bounced with excitement, watching her impatiently. “Mum, has Mrs. Macy called you? Is Rick coming over?”

Sue Walker let out a soft laugh at that and turned to look at Kieren with a smile. “I’m sure she will,” she assured Kieren. “But I haven’t gotten any calls yet. It’s early still, love. Wait for a bit. Eat some breakfast and put on some warm clothes.” She nodded towards the pajamas Kieren was wearing. Not only was going out in pajamas already inherently a bit socially unacceptable, these particular pajamas, made of thin cotton and fine to wear to bed in a warm house, would cause anyone to freeze instantly if they were to wear them out into the snow.

Kieren, however, did not want to wait. He was hungry, yes, and he was well aware that he would have to bundle up to survive the cold, but he would have preferred nothing more than to run outside and find Rick and begin playing right now. He whined a bit, but softly so as not to get in trouble with his mother, and then said, “Can I just walk over to Rick’s place and get him myself? I’ll be back before breakfast, promise.”

Chuckling at that, Sue shook her head. “Rick can eat breakfast at his own house and then come over.” she assured him. Then, seeing the disappointment on Kieren’s face, she added gently, “And if Janet doesn’t call by lunchtime, I’ll call the Macy’s myself and invite Rick over. Does that sound alright?” She turned back around and poured herself a cup of coffee.

He was still a bit disappointed, but Kieren nodded reluctantly. “Alright,” he muttered, looking at his own feet for a moment as he tried to come up with some way to wait until Rick finally arrived. Perking up, he lifted his head and said, “I’m gonna go wake Jem up! She’ll wanna know about the snow!” Sue turned back around to face Kieren just as he had turned away, and without saying another word to his mother he had darted to his little sister’s room.

xxx

After breakfast, Rick still had not called. Kieren’s entire family was up now, and he was anxiously sitting at the dining room table, listening desperately for the phone, drumming his fingers nervously on table and shaking his leg in an attempt to calm himself.

“Maybe you and Jem could do something to pass the time, Kier?” Sue suggested after a moment of silence. “I bet she’d like making snowflakes with you, or maybe drawing pictures…”

The little girl beside Kieren looked over to him expectantly at that, and prodded his shoulder. Kieren jumped with surprise. He had not been paying attention to his mother’s words and now he looked between her and his sister with wide, confused eyes. “Er… what?” he asked guiltily, feeling bad for not knowing what had been asked of him and thus having no idea how to answer.

It was Steve Walker who spoke up, sighing softly as he did. “Kier, your mother said to-”

_knock knock knock!_

There was a knock at the door. Kier jumped up instantly, eyes going wide once more but this time with excitement. He ran to the front door, not even noticing the way Sue sighed and shook her head as she watched him dart away. In front of the house was, much to Kieren’s delight, his best mate and one of his favorite people in the whole world. Rick Macy stood there bundled up in two jackets. His face was flushed and his lips were vaguely blue from being out in the cold, and he shivered terribly as he stood in front of the door.

“Rick!” Kieren greeted, paying little attention to the state of his best friend as he ran to him and gave him a tight hug. He was freezing, and soon Kieren was too, and he shivered terribly as the snow that dusted Rick’s jackets rubbed off onto him. He let go and rubbed his hands together in an attempt to warm them as he asked, “Why didn’t you call?!”

“Hey Ren!” Rick greeted. His voice was hoarse and he swallowed and wet his lips before saying, “I, er, me dad said I’m big enough to walk here on my own now!” He gave an awkward smile, and Kieren assumed that he was simply incredibly cold, much too cold to smile properly.

Kieren grabbed him by the arm and tugged him into the house. “Come here, we have the heater on, and we were just finishing breakfast. I’m sure mum won’t mind you eating something if you’re hungry after your walk.” It was a relatively long walk from his house to Rick’s, Kieren thought. He probably had eaten breakfast a pretty long time ago or not eaten this morning at all for him to have made it over here as early as he had.

xxx

About an hour later, Kieren and Rick were properly warmed up - the two of them had spend about half an hour snuggled on the couch watching cartoons - and ready to go outside and freeze again. They bundled up, Kieren forced by his parents to wear about three layers and Rick borrowing one of Steve’s wool hats and scarves hopes that he would be a bit warmer now than he had been on the walk over.

“Why can’t I play with them?” Jem whined as she watched the two boys run to the front door.

Sue smiled at the young girl but shook her head. “I’m sure Kier would love to play in the snow with you later, dear, but today is special. Let him and Rick have this time to themselves, alright?”

Jem huffed but nodded. Despite her age, she understood. Kieren and Rick had been close for as long as she could remember, she knew how much her older brother adored Rick and she considered him practically a member of the family. She pouted a bit but gave a grudging nod. “Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” Sue agreed, as she watched Kieren and Rick leave.

Rick waved and called, “See you later, Mrs. Walker!” on the way out, and Kieren called out an excited, “Bye mum!” Both boys ran out the door, Kieren just a bit behind Rick, but the second the door had closed behind them Kieren ran forward, catching up with Rick and shoving him hard into the snow by the door. Rick let out a yelp of surprise, but once he had landed in the snow, sinking down into it and being covered in it, he began to laugh.

“Not fair! Ya snuck up behind me!” he yelled, but his eyes were bright and he was grinning widely.

Kieren responded to this by grabbing a handful of snow and quickly forming it into a snowball. As Rick moved to stand up Kieren threw it, and it hit Rick in the shoulder. “Wasn’t behind you then and you _still_ got hit!” Kieren said, and then he walked over and sat down beside Rick. “What d’you want to do out here?” he asked.

Rick sat up and picked up a huge handful of snow. Not bothering to form a snowball first, he lifted his hands over Kieren’s head and let the snow fall onto him. It covered his head and shoulders and Kieren yelped with surprise. “Well, first I had to get back at you.” Rick said with a grin as he watched Kieren shiver and begin to try to brush the snow off of his head. “I dunno, though… what do you wanna do?”

After he had finished getting the snow off (and he had not fully managed it, as there were still snowflakes coating his hair and shoulders, but that really could not be helped), Kieren thought for a moment. “Um… we could-”

“Kier!”

Kieren and Rick both jumped in surprise as they heard Kieren’s name being called. Sue poked her head out the front door of the house and smiled brightly at the two of them from where they sat in the snow, faces already flushed with cold and snow already covering them. “Hello, boys. Having fun?” she asked. Before either had a chance to answer, however, she turned to Kieren and said, “Kier, love, can you come in for a second?”

Eyes going wide with confusion and worry, Kieren stood up. “What’s wrong?” he asked, glancing apologetically to Rick. “Did I do something?”

Sue chuckled and shook her head. “No, I just need you for a moment.” She turned to Rick, who still sat in the snow, looking up at the woman nervously. “Are you okay waiting here, Rick? Kier will be back out in just a moment.” Hesitantly, Rick nodded, and Sue smiled brightly and turned back to Kieren, watching him expectantly.

It was clear that Kieren wanted to argue, but he knew that fighting with his mother would always be a losing battle. With a sigh and a reluctant nod he followed her back inside, giving Rick one last regretful look as he entered and shut the door behind him. Rick was left alone, sitting in the snow. His lack of movement soon made him grow incredibly cold and he hugged himself, and with a little huff he stood up, looking around with disappointment.

Kieren would be back out soon, he knew, but he was beginning to grow cold and bored and he needed something to preoccupy himself with. He kicked at the pile of snow he had been sitting in and watched it crumble into millions of tiny flakes as it flew into the air. He then sighed and repeated the motion harder, letting more snow fly from his boots and into the air.

Soon it grew apparent that kicking snow was not the ideal way to pass the time. Rick knelt down and picked up a handful of snow and began to distractedly shape it into a small ball in his hands as he thought. The thick gloves that covered his fingers made the process of rounding the snowball a bit harder than it should have been, and he bit his lip and began to give it more attention, furrowing his brow as he worked on making what he hoped to be the perfectly circular snowball.

And suddenly, he had an idea.

Rick dropped to his knees and gently set the snowball on the ground. From there he began to roll it, letting it slowly pick up more snow as he rolled it along the ground. It started to grow bigger, he noticed with wide, delighted eyes, picking up more and more snow and becoming what would eventually be the largest snowball he had ever made. Much too large to throw, but throwing was not on his mind.

Once its diameter was about two feet long (and Rick had rolled the snowball far enough that he was now across the street and nearly in the front yard of one of Kieren’s neighbors), he finally stopped to admire his handiwork. It was not perfectly circular, but it was a large, round ball of snow and it was just about exactly what he had been going for.

Rick knelt down and took another handful of snow in his hands and began to do the same with this one.

xxx

When Kieren came running out a moment later, an excited grin on his face as he was finally able to return to playing with Rick, he was momentarily shocked to find that his best friend was nowhere in sight. “Rick?” he called, excitement turning to worry. Had he gone home or something? “Rick!” he called again, panicking now.

“Ren!”

Rick’s voice instantly eased Kieren’s nerves and he sighed in relief as he turned to see the other boy across the street. At once he became very confused, but at least he was no longer scared that his best friend had ditched him on one of the most important days of the year. “Rick!” Kieren cried as he hastily ran across the street. “What’re you doing over here?!”

As Kieren approached, Rick’s face turned red and he suddenly took an awkward step in front of him. Kieren frowned and stared at the other boy for a moment. He looked like he was hiding something behind him… “H- Hey Ren!” Rick greeted, not answering Kieren’s question. When Kieren tried to step around him to get a look at whatever was behind him, Rick followed his footsteps and blocked him from passing once more. “Wh- What did your mum want?”

“Oh… right.” Kieren had been so distracted by Rick’s odd behavior (he tried to get on his toes to see whatever was behind Rick over his shoulder but failed, as Rick was just a bit too tall) to remember what his mother had wanted. He now dug into his pocket and briefly pulled out a camera. “Pictures! Mum said she wanted me to take pictures of us outside. She gave me a talk about being careful not to break her camera, and told me to take as many pictures of us as I wanted!”

Rick smiled at that. “Great!” he said, but he was still clearly nervous, and the grin was forced. “Um… can we… go back to yer place to play? I don’t think we should be out in some stranger’s yard.” He gave an awkward laugh.

Kieren was clearly suspicious. “Why were _you_ over here then, Rick?” he asked, raising a brow and once more trying to look over his shoulder. He gave the other boy a light shove. “You know you’re no good at lying to me, c’mon. What’s going on?”

Rick knew he was defeated. With a soft sigh and the feel of heat rising in his cheeks, Rick reluctantly moved out of the way for Kieren, allowing him to see what was behind him. Sitting in the snow, probably no taller than three feet, were two small snowballs stacked on top of each other. It was crooked, and the bottom snowball looked a bit squashed by the other one, making the whole thing look very flat and saggy. From the bottom snowball there were two little twigs sticking out. It looked very sad and pathetic, and Kieren could not for the life of him figure out what he was looking at.

Then it clicked, and Kieren let out a little giggle and turned to Rick. “Is that… Did you make a snowman…?!”

Rick looked down at his boots in shame. “I tried…” he mumbled, face feeling like it was on fire even in the cold, snowy weather. “It, um… it didn’t come out very good, though. I was hoping I could make it look nicer or- or at least destroy it before you came back. So y’wouldn’t laugh or something…”

Kieren giggled again and took out the camera once more. “No, it’s cute!” he promised. “I’m gonna take a picture.” He grinned brightly at Rick before taking a step back to get a better angle of the sad tower of uneven snowballs. Just as he was about to take the photo, Rick grabbed him by the arm and cried out,

“Don’t!”

Kieren turned with surprise. “What’s the matter with you?” he asked, tone a mixture of confusion and a bit of irritation at being stopped so abruptly.

Rick swallowed. “I don’t… want a picture of it. It’s ugly.”

Kieren began to laugh. “I like it, Rick, I really do!” He walked up to the snowman and knelt down beside it, and gently began to pat the bottom half of it, trying to make it slightly rounder. “What if I helped it?” he suggested, using both hands now to form the snow into a more recognizably circular shape. “We could work on it together and make it look nicer, okay?” He looked back at Rick with a smile.

There was obvious hesitance on Rick’s face, but he seemed to perk up just a bit at the idea. “Okay.” he said, nodding slowly. Then his smile grew a bit wider and he added, “I bet- I bet you could make it look really nice! Because you’re an artist!” He walked over now and got down on his knees beside Kieren, watching him work at the snowman and wondering if there was anything he could do to help. In the end he settled on simply sitting back to watch as Kieren fixed the snowman for him.

It was a good fifteen minutes later that Kieren had finished up with the snowman and created something that both of them could be proud of. It was still a bit misshapen and lumpy, given the nature of a snowman, but it definitely looked better now than it had before. It was taller and rounder, and it no longer sat sagging or crooked, and little arms made of snow extended from the middle, which looked much nicer than the twigs that had been there before.

Rick stared at it in awe. “It looks really nice, Ren!” he said, and he stood up to get a better look and admire it fully.

Kieren beamed at the compliment, but, as he took out his camera once more, he said, “I couldn’t have done it without your help, though! You started it, making the base and all. I just worked off of what you had made.” He turned to him and grinned. “We make a really good team!” Then his eyes went wide and he glanced back to the snowman with a gasp. “We need to give him a face! And clothes!”

“What?”

“Go collect pebbles, okay? Dig around in the snow for them. I’ll- I’ll be right back!” Kieren said, and with no further explanation he turned and ran off, back to his house and inside. Rick stared for a moment, confused, but decided that it would be best to do as Kieren had instructed and began to look around for pebbles.

When Kieren returned a moment later, it was with a bright orange scarf in his hands. “Dad bought this a few years ago but Mum says it’s hideous and won’t let him wear it. I knew where she keeps it, and-” He ran to the snowman, giving it a loving pat on the head before wrapping the scarf around its neck. “-it might look bad on dad, but I thought it would look good on him!” He then pulled a carrot from his pocket and shoved it into the center of the top snowball. He laughed and took out the camera, taking a picture of the now-clothed (and nosed) snowman. But it was incomplete. Aside from the carrot, its face was still nothing but a blank white snowball. He turned to Rick. “Did you get the pebbles?”

Rick handed him a collection of small rocks. “Are these okay?” He looked nervous, as if worried he had somehow managed to mess even this task up. But Kieren accepted the pebbles with an eager nod.

“Perfect!”

Kieren turned back to the snowman and knelt down, and he very gently pressed one of the larger rocks to the top right. This was its first eye. He carefully adjusted it, making sure it was in the right position, before he turned to Rick (who was watching intently) and said, “D’you wanna help?”

Rick flushed and shook his head. He took a step back. “N- No, I’m good. I like just watching you.”

Kieren frowned at this but in the end gave a shrug and went back to work, gently pressing the pebbles into the snowman’s face. He added another rock in the top left, for the second eye, and then he got to work on creating a wide smile. In the end it had a cheerful, happy face on it, and Kieren stood up straight and grinned, admiring the snowman, before he took another picture. “It looks great!”

“You did a really good job.” Rick said, and he sounded rather mesmerized.

Kieren rolled his eyes and turned to the other boy. “You helped!” he insisted. He nudged Rick towards the snowman. “Go next to it, I’m gonna take your picture with it.”

Rick hesitated, feeling almost guilty as he slowly began to walk over. He did not feel like he deserved to have his picture with the snowman. Kieren had done the work to make it look nice, he had just stacked a few lumps of snow on top of each other… But Kieren was beaming at him still, eyes bright and face reddened with the cold, and Rick could not help but think he was the cutest thing he had ever seen. And he could not help but want to please him. Reluctantly he walked over to the snowman and stood behind it, gently placing a hand on its shoulder for the photo.

They spent at least five minutes taking photographs of the snowman after that. It was not until they were fully satisfied with that that they began to grow distracted with other things (or rather, Rick eventually grew bored of photography and threw a snowball that hit Kieren directly in the face). They took more pictures, photos of each other covered in snow or making snow angels or simply sitting together beneath snowy trees, but most of their time was simply spent playing together. The snowman sat alone, forgotten about as they focused instead on each other.

Rick and Kieren had no idea how much time had passed by the time Sue once more came out and called, “Boys! Come over here, I need to speak with you.”

Rick and Kieren had currently been attempting to get their tongues stuck to icicles, something that both were presently failing at. Hearing his mother made Kieren drop his ice on the ground and come running, and Rick followed behind him. “What is it?” Kieren asked, too excited by the fun he had been having to be very worried or upset by his mother’s presence. “Mum! You’ll love all the pictures we took! We-”

Sue did not let Kieren finish, but instead turned to Rick. “Your mum called me, Rick.” she said. To Kieren’s surprise, Rick’s eyes grew huge and his face turned pale. He looked utterly terrified. “She asked me if you were here, and of course I told her you were…” Kieren did not understand. Why would his mother need to ask? Didn’t Janet know? Sue continued on with, “She said she should have realized the moment you had disappeared that you had come here.”

Rick looked down at the ground, frozen stiff (and not just because he was covered from head to toe in snow). “I- I’m sorry, Mrs. Walker.” he said quietly, never one to enjoy feeling like he had broken rules or let someone down. “I-” He sniffled and wiped his nose on the back of his large glove. “I never meant to scare me mum, or cause trouble, it’s just-” He sniffled again, and Kieren noticed a tear roll down his cheek. “Dad said I couldn’t come play with Ren this year.”

At these words Kieren gasped and looked between Rick and his mother in what could only be described as shock. “Why?!” he asked, and he was surprised by the anger in his own voice.

Rick shook his head. “I dunno… he said he doesn’t… he doesn’t trust ya, and he… he said there’re better things to do with my time than go play with you. So I told Mum I was going to go check the mail and I just… ran away, to yer house.” He began to cry into his gloves, trembling terribly.

Kieren watched as Sue approached and pulled Rick into a hug. He instantly clung to her, grabbing the front of her shirt and crying into it. She patted him on the back. “Your mum was very kind about it,” she assured him gently. “She said she would tell your father that she’d sent you to the store, and you can stay here as long as you want.”

“I shouldn’t have lied to her…” Rick cried, shaking his head. “It’s just, Dad was saying that shite about Ren and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to see him…” He clutched tighter to the front of Sue’s shirt. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, Rick,” Sue promised. She looked between the two boys, the one crying against her and her own son standing just a ways away with wide, worried eyes. She sighed and smiled. “Why don’t you come inside for a bit? Have some snacks and a cup of hot chocolate?” She let go of Rick and walked back to the front door. Rick sniffed and wiped his eyes before he turned to Kieren, watching for his approval as he blinked back more tears.

Kieren nodded eagerly and ran after his mother. He was shaken up from hearing Rick’s words. What had Bill Macy said about him? Why didn’t he want Rick playing with him anymore? He did not understand, and it worried him, but he did not want to dwell on it now. He just wanted to spend time with Rick, and it was clear that he needed a bit of time to relax. Coming inside for hot chocolate sounded perfect. “Let’s go, Rick!” he called.

Rick took in a deep breath and nodded, following after Kieren.

xxx

“Mum!”

Kieren called out from where he sat at the table. The suddenness of it made Rick nearly drop his mug. Sue came walking in when she heard that she had been called and Kieren grinned at her and pulled out the camera, kept safely tucked away in his pocket. “I forgot to say! We took _so_ many pictures.” He glanced to Rick. “We made a snowman, Mum. A really nice one. And we took a whole lot of pictures!”

Rick was still slightly shaken up, although the hot chocolate he was sipping was helping him a bit. “Well, R- Ren did most of the work,” he squeaked, shaking his head. He did not even want to think about the original disaster of a snowman he had made…

But Kieren shook his head. “He keeps saying that, Mum, but he’s lying. He helped a lot.” He turned to Rick again and smiled, nodding earnestly. “Couldn’t’ve done it without him.”

Rick’s cheeks reddened just a bit, and he watched Kieren with a sort of awe and love that he only ever felt when he was around him. Did Kieren really mean it? He could not imagine it, really being that important to someone. His snowman had looked horrible, and he could hardly believe that Kieren could truly speak positively of it. Surely he was just making it up to make him feel better…

It never felt that way with Kieren, though. With Kieren, Rick thought, he felt like he was really loved, and he felt like, even if it had been awful, his snowman really had been appreciated by him. He drew in a deep breath and then took another sip of cocoa.

Kieren pulled him out of his thoughts with, “Just think, Rick. We can print out all of those photos we took, and keep them _forever_. In ten or fifteen years when, we’ll still friends of course, and we can look back at these and tease each other over how silly we looked. And you’ll be all grown up, so your dad won’t be able to say anything about us being together so we can be together as much as we want!”

Rick smiled as he sipped his hot chocolate again. He liked that plan.

-end

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really have much to say about this... it's meant to be just sorta short and cutesy and fluffy, I just wanted to write something nice with little Rick and Kieren for Christmas (with a,,, mildly depressing ending, whoops)! I really hope you enjoy! It was fun to write, and I CANNOT get over how cute the accompanying artwork is omg! Kuparikoira was so great to work with! X


End file.
